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The intimate 2.2 square mile island of Mustique is brimming this week with the buzz of Royal visitors. Albeit that the Middleton clan are not royals, they were vacationing with their newly married daughter Kate at the Aurora Villa Resort. Prince William joined his new bride and her family a few days into the trip when he completed a business assignment.

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The quiet seclusion of the island offers guests and home owners the opportunity to snorkel in the clear waters among the coral reefs. As landmarks go on an island that is only 2.2 square miles, Basil's Bar has been 'creating a vibe' since the '60's. With a mantra of 'live in the moment'; is it any wonder that Prince William felt relaxed enough on an earlier visit to belt out his rendition of Elvis' tune - 'Suspicious Minds', a'la karaoke style. William just may let loose again to serenade the Middleton ladies for the January birthdays .

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Princess Margaret accepted a wedding gift of a plot of land on the island of Mustique from Lord Glenconner. It was not until 1972 that the Princess's island home 'Les Jolies Eaux' was built from a design that her Uncle-in-law Oliver Messel designed. The antics of Princess Margaret while at Les Jolies Eaux are legendary.
It was there that the romance developed with Roddy Llewellyn, a gardener 17 years her junior. And after returning from the Falkland Island duty, Prince Andrew romped at the island home with his once time girlfriend Koo Stark. [links]

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Prince William and his wife Kate spent the last week together on vacation with her family in Mustique . The couple spent a few days on the West Indies island with her sister Pippa, brother James, and parents Michael and Carole. William apparently met up with the group after the Middletons started their fun. He arrived, however, ahead of the celebrations for Carole Middleton's 57th birthday. The Middletons' getaway included plenty of beach time and group lunches by the water. The girls were able to wear bikinis and sit in the sun, while James snapped photos from his deck chair. William and Kate stayed at Aurora House, a retreat owned by their friend Mark Cecil, according to reports. here

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William, Kate, and Pippa wrapped things up and left Mustique for the Hewanorra airport in nearby St. Lucia, where they caught a British Airways flight. They headed back to London so William could prepare for his deployment to the Falkland Islands. He was scheduled to begin a six-week tour of duty Wednesday. Along with other pilots, William will be tasked with manning search-and-rescue helicopters. [links]

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A bamboo dining area, at the Beach House. more

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“You could call this place a healthy addiction,” Jeannette Cadet says a few nights later. I run into her at the beach bar at the Cotton House, the hotel that Colin Tennant, later Lord Glenconner, established a decade after he bought the Caribbean island, part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in 1958 for 45,000 pounds (around $126,000 at the time), assuring his wife that it would be cheaper to spend the winters there than to heat the family castle in Scotland. Cadet, a St. Vincentian by birth, is Mustique’s unofficial social chair, known to all, and all-knowing. (I’m told she reviews the manifests of every incoming flight.) It was Cadet who secured L’Ansecoy, a simple ­cliffside cottage belonging to Maguy Le Coze, owner of New York’s Le Bernardin restaurant, for the art dealer Tim Jefferies and his wife, the Swedish model Malin Johansson. That couple have just arrived at the bar, and immediately they greet the London girl-about-town Amanda Sheppard, who nurses a rum punch. Sheppard is staying at Blackstone, a house that used to belong to the Canadian country singer Shania Twain. Nearby, Belle Robinson, a cofounder of the British clothing chain Jigsaw and owner of a pair of Italianate villas overlooking Macaroni Beach, sits with her daughter Christy; Ricky Hilfiger, Tommy’s son, regales a few friends visiting from Los Angeles; and the artist Marc Quinn watches as his girlfriend, Jenny Bastet, kicks up the cool evening sand with her infinite legs. Everyone knows one another, at least a little, and strangers are absorbed effortlessly. There is always the sense on self-selecting Mustique that if you’re here at all, you’re fine.

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An aerial view of Coogee Beach in New South Wales, Australia. more

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An aerial image from Gray Malin’s book, “Beaches.”

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In both season 3 and the recently released season 4, Princess Margaret escapes to Mustique when she needs a break.

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British architect Oliver Messel designed a number of the homes on the island, his signature gingerbread style visible throughout, according to Forbes. more

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According to Vogue, Tennant rescued Charles from a bike accident in 1970 and promised him a job on the island after Charles' recovery. With famous faces from the late Princess Margaret to Hugh Grant making their way through the bar doors, like the rest of the island, Basil's has a strict no-camera policy. Perhaps this is one reason people feel so comfortable there. [links]